Galileo for Kids: His Life and Ideas, 25 Activities (For Kids series) [Paperback]

Richard Panchyk (Author), Buzz Aldrin (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2005 | Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up | Series: For Kids series

Galileo, one of history's best-known scientists, is introduced in this illuminating activity book. Children will learn how Galileo's revolutionary discoveries and sometimes controversial theories changed his world and laid the groundwork for modern astronomy and physics. This book will inspire kids to be stargazers and future astronauts or scientists as they discover Galileo's life and work. Activities allow children to try some of his theories on their own, with experiments that include playing with gravity and motion, making a pendulum, observing the moon, and painting with light and shadow. Along with the scientific aspects of Galileo's life, his passion for music and art are discussed and exemplified by period engravings, maps, and prints. A time line, glossary, and listings of major science museums, planetariums, and web sites for further exploration complement this activity book.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-9–Clear, sometimes dry, writing places Galileo squarely within the historical context of the turbulent Italian Renaissance. His scientific discoveries challenged the ideas held by the Catholic Church and he was tried for heresy. Sidebars give additional information about individuals and events that influenced Galileo's life. In an author's note, Panchyk mentions his use of Galileo's correspondences throughout, and they are referenced within the text (rather than footnoted), usually with such introductions as, Galileo wrote… or one letter explained…. The text is illustrated with good-quality reproductions of historical artwork and scientific diagrams. As with other titles in the series, the history is accompanied by suggestions for learning activities. Most of them are interesting experiments that demonstrate scientific principles discovered by Galileo and require only common household materials. James MacLachlan's Galileo Galilei: First Physicist (Oxford, 1997) is more technical and does not contain any suggestions for activities. Panchyk's title is a good choice for those interested in integrating history and science curriculums.–Donna Cardon, Provo City Library, UT
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Review

"Fascinating . . . full of useful and insightful information. A good read." —Science Books & Films

"A must-have." —Kliatt

"Delightful and engaging as readers learn to appreciate Galileo’s genius and integrity."  —NSTA Recommends 
 

"The drawings and photos are beautiful and my overall impression of the book was very good."  —Yes Mag: The Science Magazine for Adventurous Kids  

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Paperback: 166 pages
• Publisher: Chicago Review Press (July 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1556525664
• ISBN-13: 978-1556525667
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 11 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #66,714 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #19 in Books > Children's Books > Science, Nature & How It Works > Physics
  • #40 in Books > Children's Books > Science, Nature & How It Works > Astronomy & Space > Astronomy
  • #51 in Books > Children's Books > Science, Nature & How It Works > Experiments & Projects

More About the Author

Born in Queens, New York, Richard Panchyk attended the prestigious Stuyvesant High School. He received a Master's degree in Anthropology from the University of Massachusetts/Amherst, and also completed doctoral coursework there. He knew he wanted to be a writer by the time he was seven years old. He sold his first "book," a four-page handwritten trivia booklet, to a third grade classmate for five cents. In college, he held numerous positions on the student newspaper, including Editor-in-Chief. Among other things, he wrote more than 100 articles and published a cartoon called "Over the Ledge." He printed a small book of his poems at the age of 19, and published his first book with Van Nostrand Reinhold at the age of 21. Since then has published 17 books for a total of more than 2,400 pages, including eight books in the "For Kids" series published by Chicago Review Press.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Most of the activities in this book on Galileo are really scientific experiments, March 2, 2006

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Galileo for Kids: His Life and Ideas, 25 Activities (For Kids series) (Paperback)

The only real complaint about "Galileo for Kids: His Life and Ideas, 25 Activities," is that I doubt there is a teacher in the country who would spend long enough on the famous scientist to do all of these activities. If they got to double figures that would be pretty impressive, but also somewhat doubtful. However, there are certainly some choice activities in this book by Richard Panchyk (Buzz Aldrin does the foreword) that will not only get young students interested in the life of Galileo but also fan their interest in the sciences.

This book makes it clear that while he is best known as an astronomer, Galileo was a genius who enjoyed science, mathematics, music, and art, and someone who sough the truth and believed there was no substitute for observation and experimentation. Despite being forced by the Church to recant his discovery that the sun was the center of the universe, Panchyk makes it clear that Galileo believed both science and religion help us to know ourselves. After a Timeline that begins with a new star being observed by the Chinese in 1054 to Galileo being reburied with proper honors in 1737, and a map of Italy, this book turns to Science and Astronomy Before Galileo, to set up how important he was in changing things. Astronomers including Peter Apian, Nicolaus Copernicus and Tycho Brahe are covered, as well as the Comet of 1577. The activities here include making initial lunar observations and how to use raw data, so you can see there is an initial focus on scientific metrology.

The second chapter details the Beginnings of Galileo's life, where you not only get to cook a renaissance meal (meatballs and pea soup), but also get to make a pendulum and pulsilogia. In chapter 3, Position at Pisa, Galileo began his career as a scientist. There are also sidebars on Dante, Johannes Kepler, and the Medicis so the religious, scientific and political contexts of the time are covered as well. Activities include not only the famous gravity experiment, put also the properties of the ellipse and the second part of lunar observation. The Telescope is the focus of the next chapter, which includes an aperture experiment and the floating needle experiment.

The Storm Builds is the subject of chapter five, signifying the coming collision between Galileo's science and the religion of the day. Here the activities are the perception of illumination and the mathematical problem represented by the roll of the dice (plus making a care package for Galileo because of the plague). Chapter six covers The Two Systems, with experiments on relative motion and projective motion. However, most of these chapters tell the story of what happened when Galileo was called before the Inquisition. Galileo's Last Days are covered in the last chapter, along with experiments on accelerated motion and charting the cycloid curve. The look at the life and times of Galileo is pretty strong to begin with, so when you add the activities and see that the vast majority of them are practical scientific experiments, then you have to be even more impressed. In fact, I could be wrong: I can now see a teacher breaking up the class into lots of groups and having them do different activities and sharing the results with their classmates, so getting to double figures could be pretty easy (although making meatballs can be seen as being practical too, since kids have to eat).

Throughout the book there are illustrations of the people, places and things in Galileo's life, many of which are contemporary to his time. The back of the book includes several pages of Resources. There are lists of the Popes and Grand Dukes of Tuscany during Galileo's time, a Glossary of Key Terms from "abjuration" to "volume," Key People from Peter and Philip Apian to Vincenzo Viviani, and Key Places from Arcetri to Venice. A list of Galileo's key writings is provided, along with some web sites specific to his life and works, and there is also a list of Planetariums an Astronomy/Space Museums to be found in fourteen states and the District of Columbia. If you are not tired you can also check out the Selected Bibliography before we finally get to the Index.

The final thing that needs to be said is that this is but one volume in the For Kids series. There are over a dozen volumes that I know about for sure. The one's under "A" consist of "Africa for Kids," "American Folk Art for Kids," "The American Revolution for Kids," and "Archaeology for Kids." Those four titles along should give you a good idea of the scope of the series. So teachers might only use a couple of activities from this book, but they can do the same for units on Leonardo da Vinci, Lewis and Clark, the Civil Rights Movement, and know that Chicago Review Press will be adding volumes to this wonderful series for some time to come.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Resource, January 13, 2009

By 

J. Davis "Mom of boys!" (Antioch, ca United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Galileo for Kids: His Life and Ideas, 25 Activities (For Kids series) (Paperback)

I bought this for my 10 year old who is doing a report on Galileo for school. His report needs to include a written report and 5 other elements such as experiments, maps, timelines etc. This book was a great resource with many ideas for projects to do related to Galileo and his life. My only complaint would be the written text on his life was a bit complex for his reading and writing for his report, a great resource for teachers to teach about Galileo. And many awesome fun experiments and project ideas.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Galileo for Kids (book), September 28, 2010

By 

Patrico "peace-loving lady" (TX-USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Galileo for Kids: His Life and Ideas, 25 Activities (For Kids series) (Paperback)

This book contains a great amount of useful information about Galileo and his times, with interesting practical applications that kids can relate to, and info that is brought into perspective with nicely presented timelines. This book can be enjoyed by any age, and is certainly useful for studying science, astronomy, inventors, or any other general educational use, including biographies.